New Funnies (Walter Lantz…)

Dell’s long-running New Funnies series was a showcase for many of their funny animal strips, including Felix the Cat, Walt Kelly’s Pogo, and Walter Lantz’s crazy creations such as Woody Woodpecker. Lantz actually got title billing after issue #109.

As the leading funny animal publisher, Dell had access to all the characters from the animation studios and aggressively tied its comic books in with the popularity of cartoon characters. Woody Woodpecker, whose manic motion and trademark giggle are hard to capture on the printed page, was one of the featured characters of the series. Sharing the spotlight in the Walter Lantz issues were Andy Panda and Homer Pigeon.